[drl]

Long post, sorry.

Originally Posted by Endymion

drl you confuse Anglosaxon (white caucasoid with penchant for conquest and hoarding wealth) culture with English (from England) culture.

Yes, but that's because the English no longer really have a culture, unless you're talking about football and fish'n'chips.

Originally Posted by Endymion

The reality is that New Zealand is a major part of Oceania/Polynesia/Pacifika whatever you call it. You don't have to be brown to be Polynesian, kinda like you don't have to be white to be English.

Totally, but as an individual/family you have to identify with that. You can be a Pakistani living in Manchester and be 100% English, or a Samoan living in Manurewa and be 100% Kiwi. But you guys are just making sweeping statements that are complete bollocks. Can you really simplify it down to 'I live in NZ so I am Polynesian?' because it seems some of you are.

What I am saying is that while I live in NZ, I don't really have anything at all in my life that is influenced by Polynesian culture. I may be surrounded (not so much though - I live in CHCH at the moment) by it, but it has little impact on my life at all. On the flipside, everything I am is basically derived from the fact I came from Europe and am one of those conquering hoarders.

Originally Posted by Endymion

And this is the internet! THE cultural melting pot of the world. You'd fit in in those places better than you think, Japan and Iran especially.

Better than what though? And thats the point. I'd fit in if I really wanted to, but I don't. I like who I am and if I was going to live somewhere else it would be to a country with a similar culture because I don't want to change who I am just to fit in. Which is what happens to most migrants and comes back to globalisation being a myth. Just because people are moving around the world doesn't mean that all people are one.

Originally Posted by fixed_truth

NZ as an Island has no Polynesian heritage? Do you think NZ as an Island started when the TOW was signed and everything before that was irrelevant?

You're just putting words in my mouth, but ok.

As a physical Island? No. NZ is the only country in Polynesia that is nothing like the others. Climate, landscape, flora and fauna are all totally different.

As a place where the Maori travelled and lived a few hundred years ago? Yes and no. The problem here though is that the Maori way of life was either swallowed up, or shit on by westerners for a hundred years. It's only recently that it had a chance to claw its way back. What tangibly survives of the Maori way of life in NZ today? Their customs definitely have a place in society, but what about with me as a person? What about the general populace? For arguements sake, most people you ask on the street would say stuff like the Haka defines the Maori. But these days its been reduced to a gimmick at a sports event or when someone famous comes here. I'm not say that the Maori people haven't had a huge effect on NZ, but best parts of their culture generally survive in museums and once again, have nothing to do with me/my family.

And the rest of polynesia. It has only been in the last 30 years that NZ has had an influx of Tongan/Samoan/etc culture and while it's had a big influence on NZ Culture today, it didn't exist here much before that.

But are you really telling me this is where I get my heritage? My identity?

Originally Posted by fixed_truth

Your heritage is inherited not just from your parents ancestry but from the history of the place you are born - regardless if your culture reflects this or not.

Yes, but its also who you define yourself as. As an individual I have nothing to do with this Polynesian heritage except for the fact that I live in a country that happens to be part of the triangle. How long has your family been in NZ? Mine came here after WWI, but I can trace it back hundreds of years. Is it any surprise I identify with a tangible part of my histroy as opposed something that has nothing to do with my life?